Last week, one of Sacha Baron Cohen’s most infamous characters again grabbed the limelight.
14 years after his big-screen debut in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the fictional television journalist is back with Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
That is due for release on October 23 and looks set to feature plenty of laughs at the expense of America’s citizens and politicians.
To be fair, they make it very, very easy.
During his time as Borat, and also as Bruno, the comedian has ruffled plenty of feathers, and he recently opened up to TIME about two occasions where he genuinely feared for his life.
The first involves a scene from 2009’s Bruno:
In Arkansas, I posed as an ultimate fighter at a cage match and challenged anyone in the audience to take me on. When my fake ex-boyfriend volunteered, we engaged in some heavy petting, triggering a near riot.
The crowd—including some recently paroled prisoners with swastika tattoos—erupted in homophobic slurs and started hurling metal chairs at us. Had I not ducked into a trapdoor and out an escape tunnel, I think the crowd would have beaten me senseless.
Here’s the scene he’s referring to:
Yeah, I can see why a trapdoor exit was necessary.
The second time happened earlier this year, during the filming of the second Borat movie:
I showed up as a right-wing singer at a gun-rights rally in Washington State. When organizers finally stormed the stage, I rushed to a nearby get-away vehicle. An angry crowd blocked our way and started pounding on the vehicle with their fists.
Under my overalls, I was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it felt inadequate with some people outside toting semiautomatic weapons. When someone ripped open the door to drag me out, I used my entire body weight to pull the door back shut until our vehicle maneuvered free.
That incident received plenty of coverage in July, with footage from his singalong showing a crowd all too happy to get on board with some, um, unique lyrics:
If you feel like watching the entire singalong, you’ll find references to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others:
Given his worldwide infamy at this point, which will only increase once Borat Subsequent Moviefilm hits screens, a third movie seems unlikely.
I suppose he could create an altogether new character to rile up bigots across the world, but sooner or later they will get their hands on him.
[source:time]
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